Northern Ireland

Cost data

This information provides the breakdown of costs and explains how charges to industry are calculated for each financial year.

The FSA’s meat related costs are shown in two categories: direct costs and indirect costs. They are also broken down by the costs of:

Meat Hygiene Inspectors (MHIs)

Official Veterinarians (OVs)

The total budgeted costs are divided by the budgeted number of hours worked to calculate the hourly charge-out rates for MHIs and OVs.

These charge-out rates are used to determine the monthly bill for each meat plant. The majority of plants have their bills discounted so they do not pay the full rate.

The cost data process is used to identify the proportion of FSA indirect costs that relate to meat official controls and which are apportioned to the OV and MHI rates. The cost data process and the calculation of the charge rates is subject to an external audit. For 2018-19 this was carried out by Mazars which is an external accountancy, audit, tax and consultancy company.

Charges calculator

This calculator is for FBOs in England and Wales considering changes to their operating hours and/or practices. It can be used before meeting with our field managers to find out how the changes would affect the charges for official controls.

The calculator has been divided into three sections to provide indicative estimates for:

red meat slaughterhouses

poultry slaughterhouses

game handling establishments

These tools can only be used to calculate estimates for the specific year stated.